As we mark the 250th anniversary of the Revolution, Dr. Kristofer Ray will examine how dominant narratives of the American Revolution—Jackson Turner's frontier thesis and the notion of inevitable independence—have shaped popular understanding while reducing Native peoples to collateral damage. Focusing on 1763-1783, he explores Indigenous perspectives on trans-Appalachian affairs and reexamines George Rogers Clark's campaigns, asking two critical questions: How did the Revolution impact Native Nations—and how did Native Nations influence the Revolution?
This Lunch and Learn event is in-person in the Museum's Digital Learning Center at 12:00. No RSVPs are required to attend this free event. It will also be livestreamed on the Museum's website at TNMuseum.org/Videos. If you have any questions, please email [email protected]. Boxed lunches made by Apple Spice Nashville are available for purchase for $12.24 to enjoy during the event. The lunches will include a sandwich, chips, and a cookie. Lunch orders must be placed by noon on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Please order your boxed lunch on the ticket registration page.
About
Kristofer Ray is a Visiting Associate Professor of Indigenous American History at the College of the Holy Cross, where he teaches courses on the 16th-18th Century Native North American experience, Indigenous encounters with Europeans, and the Euro-American construction of Indigenous slave law. In addition to other book chapters and journal articles, he is the author of Cherokee Power: Imperial and Indigenous Geopolitics in the Trans-Appalachian West, 1670-1774 (2023) and Middle Tennessee, 1775-1825: Progress and Popular Democracy on the Southwestern Frontier (2007). He also is co-editor with Brady DeSanti (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) of Understanding and Teaching Native American History (2022). Since 2024 he has been a core participant in the "Pakachoag Project," a partnership between the Quinsigamond Band of Nipmuc People and Holy Cross to restore the Tribe's place in regional narratives, both historical and ongoing.
